Downhearted Blues
| "Down Hearted Blues" | |
|---|---|
Sheet music for "Down Hearted Blues" | |
| Single by Alberta Hunter | |
| Released | 1922 |
| Recorded | July 1922, New York City |
| Genre | Blues |
| Length | 3:01 |
| Label | Paramount |
| Composer | Lovie Austin |
| Lyricist | Alberta Hunter |
| Recordings | |
Recording of Downhearted Blues, performed by Alberta Hunter (1922)
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Recording of Downhearted Blues, performed by Bessie Smith (1923)
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"Down Hearted Blues" is a blues song composed by musician Lovie Austin, with lyrics by American jazz singer Alberta Hunter. The first line sets the theme for the song: "Gee but it's hard to love someone when that someone don't love you."
Hunter sang it during her engagement at the Dreamland Cafe in Chicago, where she performed with Joe "King" Oliver's band. In addition to being sung by Hunter, "Down Hearted Blues" was the first recorded song of Bessie Smith, a blues singer.
Angela Davis describes Bessie Smith's version of the song as being about a woman loving a man who treated her poorly and ultimately did not want to continue a relationship with her, but the woman maintains her dignity despite being upset about the relationship ending and concludes the song with "a bold, perhaps implicitly feminist contestation of patriarchal rule."